Solar Plant Asks Taxpayers for Money to Repay Taxpayers

The Ivanpah solar project took $1.6 billion in federal loan guarantees to construct a plant in the Mojoave Desert for a project that, altogether, cost $2.2 billion. It began operation in December 2013, but Scott Shackford at Reason.com reports that the plant isn’t exactly producing power at expected levels — in fact, it’s producing one-quarter of what was expected.

How does Ivanpah plan to pay back its large federal loan? According to Shackford, it has asked for a federal grant of $539 million in order to do so — more money from federal taxpayers, who already provided the company with the original loan.

The plant blames its power problems on weather. According to Shackford, the solar plant is going to have to use natural gas in order to make up for its lack of energy generation.